From a University of East Anglia Press Release
Professor Phil Jones has today announced that he will stand aside as Director of the Climatic Research Unit until the completion of an independent Review resulting from allegations following the hacking and publication of emails from the Unit.
Professor Jones said: “What is most important is that CRU continues its world leading research with as little interruption and diversion as possible. After a good deal of consideration I have decided that the best way to achieve this is by stepping aside from the Director’s role during the course of the independent review and am grateful to the University for agreeing to this. The Review process will have my full support.”
Vice-Chancellor Professor Edward Acton said: “I have accepted Professor Jones’s offer to stand aside during this period. It is an important step to ensure that CRU can continue to operate normally and the independent review can conduct its work into the allegations.
“We will announce details of the Independent Review, including its terms of reference, timescale and the chair, within days. I am delighted that Professor Peter Liss, FRS, CBE, will become acting director.”
An AP story is here
h/t to Jeff Id of The Air Vent
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Phil Jones is stepping down. Stepping down ???
Hell, he needs to be prosecuted along with all those that manipulated science to impose their agenda. They have cost people, economies and businesses billions, maybe trillions. Not to mention brainwashing a whole generation of kids and young adults with a story based on fabricated data and faulty science. This is without a doubt the greatest scientific scandal of the modern era – spinning the natural warming/cooling cycles of the earth into a fairy tale of catastrophe climate alarmism to support their far left agenda.
This is not something where you “allow” people to step down – you throw them in jail !!!
What the heck is going on here ???
So now it is time for Mann to man up.
The credibility of UEA being at stake must be driven home. It has suffered somewhat, but the extent must be made clear to all in order to deter a recurrence of a Climategate era return. That should include eliminating Jones from leading anything else, at least.
Given Dr. Phil Jones brings so much money into the University this appears rather serious. After all… it isn’t as if the media has been hounding them day and night over his actions. Only the Internet has been abuzz over this.
I am going out on a limb here and say that there are more people who agree with the Guardian’s Monbiot on this matter than meets the eye. He called for Phil Jones to step down.
Hey moderators, my comments are no longer published. Have I been blacklisted and if so why. Mail me please, don’t think I’ve been out of line, never been snipped before.
[REPLY – Not so far as I know. Lots of traffic, and lots of catching up, though. ~ Evan]
“Invariant (11:56:30) :
By all means, this is good news, but let us show that we also have a warm and human side here at WUWT – we all do mistakes!”
I can forgive mistakes, generally, unless someone was hurt…
What they’ve done for the past 10yrs is not a “mistake”…this is way beyond that. There is nothing innocent in destroying data, deleting emails, subverting peer review processes…those are not mistakes. They are far worse…
JimB
As I understand it the ‘independent’ review is by the president of the Royal Society who is blatantly biased in favour of the global warming theory
So, does this mean he has been uninvited to Hopenhagain? After all, he is Jones, Phil Jones of his magesty’s secret service of climat change who prefers his data shaken but not stirred. Apoligies to Ian and all 00 agents.
>>As the release states Jones is “stepping aside” – not down. Down has yet to be achieved.
These guys don’t do down very well.
‘continue to operate normally’?
‘start’ he means
But where will we now get our adjusted data ?
There is Dr Hansen, of course, but someone without that British accent doesn’t sound as authoritative.
We’ll just have to muddle through with the real numbers.
Now that is strange. The last one appeared ‘awaiting moderation’ but the one before did not and when I tried to re-submit it informed me that it was a duplicate yet it is not here? WordPress problems I guess??
not to worry.
[Sometimes posts wind up in spam for a variety of reasons. These don’t show up as “waiting for moderation” but we review them and often post them (but sometimes after some delay) ~ Evan]
Unfortunately this is still al part of bureaucratic “circle the wagons.” It could turn out badly for Jones if they find CRU guilty of lost data, improper peer review or other academic violations. Jones resigns with his pension; but Jones is thown under the bus in order to help “the cause”, AGW is true, Jones was an imperfect mesenger, blah, blah, blah. Nothing will change at CRU, they will work doubly hard on email protocols so the don’t get caught next time.
Cheers
The BBC, of course, has rushed to report this story. Well, actually… no. Instead they have a report which wonders why in the face of so much scientific evidence the public still don’t accept that there is such a thing as human-induced catastrophic global warming. They even have that well-known scientist Lord Stern telling us how stupid we are not to accept the evidence.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8389547.stm
This report tells us that “New evidence suggests sea levels could rise by 1.4m (by the end of the century) which would be a potential disaster for some countries.”
In another report, Craig Bennett tells us that “There’s money to be made in going green.” You’ll bet! But not in the way he means.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/front_page/newsid_8383000/8383547.stm
Let’s get real here.
He quit because nobody believes a word he says anymore. That means the CRU can’t function while he’s there. Also, he is under investigation by the Information Commissioner, he is being sued in both civil and criminal courts, and he has to undergo an internal investigation by his employer, the UEA. If he remained in post, the UAE investigation would have meant that he was essentially investigating himself. This put him in a completely untenable position. And never mind what the attention of the media (such that it is) is doing to his reputation with his colleagues and institutions around the world.
What are the odds that the BBC ignores this story?
After all the director of the world’s leading (?) climate research centre stepping aside because of suspicions of unethical behaviour… not that newsworthy really is it?
Question in my mind is if Phil Jones is faced with criminal charges due to any ongoing investigation, will he cut a deal with authorities to help them pursue others criminally?
I actually feel a bit sorry for Phil Jones. He’s obviously a smart fellow, but what got him (and his climate cabal buddies) into trouble was *** hubris ***:
hubris (n): wanton insolence or arrogance resulting from excessive pride or from passion
This ‘independent’ review is intended to be a whitewash without a doubt; however the efforts of Monckton, Lawson, Holland etc via the law courts will not make that easy for them and in the end circumstances will probably force them to sacrifice Jones et al for the greater good of their university.
The warmists thought they could bluff their way out of this. Sorry guys it won’t be so simple and you’ve made so many enemies along the way that people will be queuing up to exact their revenge now. We’ve already seen the bullies starting to turn on each other with Monbiot’s call for Jones’ resignation – I think the infighting will get worse as they try to lay the blame off on each other.
Happy days!
‘Climate sceptics get it wrong’ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/6703841/Climate-sceptics-get-it-wrong.html?state=target#postacomment&postingId=6704272
Join in, there’s no need to register at the Telegraph website.
“So, does this mean he has been uninvited to Hopenhagain?”
Now that is funny.
And what blow to Jones.
Who is Harry, of Harry-Read-Me fame?
“Professor Phil Jones has today announced that he will stand aside as Director of the Climatic Research Unit until the completion of an independent Review resulting from allegations following the hacking and publication of emails from the Unit.”
Independent…. sort of like all the “independent” studies that confirm the “Hockey Stick”, right?
Dr. Jones will be back soon enough, of that I’m certain.
When is the rest of the data acquired legally or not from HCRU going to be released or posted somewhere? I’m sure that this same person or person’s has a lot more. I’m sure that the coverup has just begun. There are too many involved in this scheme to hide it all. We must quickly identify them and hit ’em with FOIA requests. I would start with Al Gore and Mr Hansen. The others are busy deleting files for which we probably have copies. Let them dig their own holes deeper before we handcuff them all.
This is the end for Jones. He will not come back. UEA have obviously decided the best approach is damage limitation to CRU, though even here they are probably going to fail.
I’m eagerly awaiting the concomittant ‘fallout’ at the Hadley Centre and its knock on effect on the IPCC.
These are very interesting times!